Much attention has been paid of late to the development of tampons which contain superabsorbent material. Superabsorbents are usually polymeric in nature, having a much greater capacity for fluid per unit weight than the cotton and rayon fibers commonly utilized as the absorbent media in the most popular commercial tampons now being marketed. [Examples of these materials which are commercially available are: BUCKEYE CLD which is a trademark of Procter & Gamble and consists of carboxymethylated wood pulp fibers; ABSORBIT, a trademark of American Enka, Division of Akzona Inc. which is an alloyed cellulose fiber containing an alkali metal salt of ammonium salt of a copolymer or terpolymer of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid and AQUALON which is a trademark of Hercules Inc. and is a material made of carboxymethylated cotton linters.] Generally these superabsorbents are added at a level of 5 to 30 percent to conventional cotton or rayon fibers. By so doing, tampons of vastly improved capacity and better efficiency per unit weight are provided. The inclusion of these superabsorbent materials allow the user to wear the tampons for an extended period of time when compared to the tampons previously available. However, one noticeable shortcoming of these higher capacity tampons not experienced with conventional tampon products is difficulty associated with withdrawal of the used tampon. Tampons containing superabsorbent have greater frictional drag than conventional tampons. This is particularly noticeable when the superabsorbent containing tampons are removed early and/or when they contain relatively small amounts of absorbed fluid where only a portion of the tampon capacity was utilized. In any event users have reported a perceivable increase in frictional drag during withdrawal.
Several attempts have been made to minimize the problems associated with withdrawal and have included, providing a softer lower density and less compressed tampon pledget, providing a narrower pledget, isolating the superabsorbent material in the tampon interior, tapering the withdrawal end of the tampon, using smoother wrapper material to reduce friction and even adding a surfactant to the wrapper to act as a lubricant in an attempt to reduce frictional drag.
In another approach, various attempts have been made to segregate the superabsorbent material from the vaginal membrane while maintaining the highly absorbent character of the superabsorbent material. These attempts have usually led to interference with fluid absorption or, failure to significantly affect the frictional drag associated with the presence of the superabsorbent within the absorbent media.